Choreographer Staycee Pearl is currently the artist-in-residence at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, which is a rarity in itself. Also a rarity: Staycee, a black artist, loomed large at PBT’s recent Open Air festival. It was a long time coming, but it proved that PBT was serious when it was one of the first American ballet companies to make a firm commitment to including blacks in their essentially European art form. 

We saw it when PBT twice invited Dance Theatre of Harlem for multiple performances at the August Wilson Center. We saw it when Victoria Watford was hired for the corps, joining soloist Corey Bourbonniere, both deserving. We saw it in PBT’s school, where there was a real effort to encourage inclusivity numbers. And we saw that during Open Air, particularly those programs involving Pearl.

Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents Sidra Bell Dance New York and STAYCEE PEARL dance project + Soy Sos. 

For nearly a decade, KST has championed experimental work, often through LGBTQ+ and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) programs.

It helped keep Pittsburgh honest (if not perfect), but still with its finger on the pulse of the future, and this program was a perfect example.

Pearl’s group led off the afternoon performance. She currently is in the midst of a seemingly casual way of choreographing. It deceives the viewer, though, by producing dancers who have a finely-tuned control in weaving their way between choreographed and improvised material.

The untitled piece began just like that: casually, the dancers warming up in front of the audience. The music starting with a drum beat, like a heart beat. DJ Soy Sos enhancing the beat. The trio — Jessica Marino Michum, LaTrea Rembert and Chandler Bingham — began to rise up and groove.

Maybe some in the audience thought they could imitate their silky smooth, rippling moves, but that would hardly happen. This movement was like a second skin, not to be worn by anyone else. Maybe some old Studio 57, only updated to an Afrodisco here. Some yoga. Spirituality. And the repetition that connected it undeniably rooted in the African tradition.

The second half belonged to Bell’s group, not only dancers, but fashionistas dressed in black designer duds. First there was the sound of a locomotive. Bell, too, chose a seemingly casual start as they set up cameras to film the performance.

Stop that. Abruptly.

Jazz inflections took over. The work, also untitled, seemed a patchwork of contradictions, of opposites, like their outfits. There were smooth angularities. Nothing was symmetrical. The dancers seemed to be pulling things apart, sometimes slow as molasses, sometimes not. It could be Gumby-esque. No matter — Bell’s movement always tickles my fancy and rattles my brain. Her intelligence always makes an impression.

All of a sudden, the dancers lined up at the back of the stage.

The end.

Staycee Pearl and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre present Open Window.

In this curated collection of choreography, host Staycee Pearl sent a love duet, “Day Dreaming,” set to Aretha Franklin’s mesmerizing song. Jessica Marino Michum and LaTrea Derome, two pillars of the company, wrapped their bodies around the sumptuous melody, undulating with an enviable ease.

But it was the range of the first two performances that best defined not only Open Window, but the overall arc of Open Air itself. Coming off a huge lag in face-to-face performances, it became apparent that the Pittsburgh dance community was not only willing, but able to bring new work to the stage for the inaugural season of Open Air.

So slowdanger, that dynamic artistic merger between Taylor Knight and Anna Thompson, brought something new to the opening of the program. After seasons of intensely thoughtful, slo-mo performances with their own original accompaniment, the duo opted for something else in “what remains.”

This time they started with running and a subsequent vital thread of movement that followed. They kept their gender-bending approach, with Knight’s long hair and fringe dress (although it malfunctioned, repeatedly slid down). But this piece was percolating, albeit with an eerie atmosphere, incorporating elements of a horror movie.

That was underscored with assorted grotesqueries and a text that said “unwrap the body and marinate it for 30 minutes to six hours…consume what remains…” 

Intriguing. As always.

That was followed by Big Storm Performance Collaborative in “Say That to My Face,” about as far off slowdanger’s beaten path as you can get. Beginning with sunglasses and some vogue-ing, it turned out to be a dance version of Pittsburgh’s Squonk Opera — similar to that group’s off-beat approach and serious silliness.

Some of Pittsburgh’s finest independent artists filled the program, led by Pearlann Porter’s The Pillow Project. With 8 dancers slowly oscillating in pairs (and at different times), the piece had an organic feel. Like George Balanchine’s approach to his corps de ballet, where the arms looked like cut flowers. Or like sea grass floating at the bottom of the ocean. One woman walked tentatively on the other dancers’ shoulders, as if picking her way among the rocks lining a beach, the culminating effect being a slowly throbbing cluster of humanity.

Jamie Erin Murphy provided a heart-felt solo encore of Shana Simmons’ “Passenger” and also created a duet that conveyed “To Grieve,” with JoAnna Dehler and Emily Jaikaran.

Allie Tiso channels her passion when she dances and such was the case with her solo, “Renascence.” On the other hand, PBT soloist JoAnna Schmidt, noted for her quirky approach, performed a series of duets with PBT soloist Corey Bourbonniere. Called “Assume the Position” (this piece involved a lampshade, perhaps inspired by equally off-the-wall choreographer Victor Plotnikov), it tended to meander as it explored a couple’s relationship and could have had a better effect with some deft editing. 

MVment, a duo with Maddison Manolis and Alison Vitale, is one of the leading groups among young dance artists. Viewed in “Quick, Recover,” the pair has an innate synchronicity, sculpturally clean and kinesthetically pleasing, that is so satisfying. Other duos, while well-executed, didn’t have a movement essence that elevated them enough to really take notice, such as Molly Huey and Olivia Nellis in “second-hand” and Alexandria Troianos’ choreography for Jesse Joiner and Sophie Powell in “Where’s My Love?.”

Kudos for the detailed program that was available on PBT website.